I don’t know about movies, but have you seen their highly informative and helpful comments on tech and free software? Amazing stuff, could probably make a career out of it.

Were the community rules copied straight out of Reddit or something? 3 and 9 are a bit funny.

Yeah, sorry, that part I didn’t fact check myself so I didn’t even want to mention it. Like I said, many possible reasons.

I think I know what you’re talking about, and I think you might have misunderstood a few things. I’ll explain my point and I’d appreciate it if you could confirm later whether it helped, or if I’m the one who misunderstood you.

“Saving as…” is, usually, just for setting the name of the file. The full filename, extension included. The extension is just another part of the name. It doesn’t define what rules the file’s contents actually follow. They’re for other purposes, such as helping your operating system know which software to use when opening each file. For example:

User double clicks a .pdf System: Oh, I should try opening this in Adobe Acrobat.

But that doesn’t mean the file is actually a PDF. You can change the extension of any file, and it won’t automatically be converted to that extension (unless a specific feature has been added to make that implicit conversion). You could give an executable a .pdf extension and your system might then try opening it in Acrobat. Of course, it won’t work—there’s no way the system could have automatically made that conversion for you.

So you might wonder, why does your (fake) PNG—which is really just a webp with an incorrect extension—still work just fine? You can open it, view it, send it. What’s the trick?

Thing is, the software that actually deals with those files doesn’t even need to care about the extension, it’s a lot smarter than that. These programs will use things like magic bytes to figure out what the file they’re handling really is and deal with it appropriately.

So in this scenario, the user could save a webp file as PNG.

funny cat.png (still a webp!)

Then they might double click to open it.

System: How do I open a .png again?

• .webp -> try the image viewer
• .jpeg -> try the image viewer
• .png -> try the image viewer (there it is)

And finally, the image viewer would correctly identify it as a webp image and display it normally.

Image viewer: reading magic bytes… Image viewer: yeah, that’s a webp alright

The user might then assume that, since everything works as expected, they properly converted their webp to a PNG. In reality, it’s all thanks to these programs, built upon decades of helping users just make things work. Same with Discord, Paint.NET, etc. Any decent software will handle files it’s meant to handle, even if they aren’t properly labeled.

If you were to check the file contents though, using a tool like file, czkawka to find incorrect extensions, or even just checking image properties, it should still be identified as a webp.

I didn’t try it myself as you said because, to my understanding of files and software, doing so made no sense. But again, do tell if I got something wrong or misinterpreted your comment.

Hey, thanks for the input. I’d like to read more about this, but I can’t seem to find anything related online. Anything else you could share?

Just checking, you sure you’re not confusing fallback-to-another-format when the browser doesn’t support webp? Because that’s a bit of separate issue, and not a terribly relevant one since all major browsers have supported webp for a while now.

Sorry, is this comment meant in jest? If not, could you explain what exactly you mean by “no need for a converter?”

I’m pretty sure that’s not how it works. No actual file data conversion is happening when you do that unless you’re using additional tools e.g. browser extensions.

Semi-related, I’m still salty about Google’s rejection of JPEG XL. I can’t help but remember this when webp discussion crops up, since Google were the ones who created it.

I still hold hope for JPEG XL and that Google will cave at some point.

You’re right, regarding Mastodon. I won’t edit my other comment, though, both to preserve the original chain of thought and because that brings up another discussion.

To quote the EFF:

We feel that the intended usage of the feature will not determine people’s expectation of privacy while using it.

Offering people a feature with preexisting expectations, similar to other things that fulfill those expectations, then telling people “We know it looks like a duck but don’t expect it to quack!”

…It begs the question: was the feature really a good idea?

And it’s also damming for private messaging on mastodon.

I once read vague complaints about it being a rushed implementation. While I won’t trust those without evidence, I for sure wouldn’t trust mastodon with my PMs. At least, not until how this was allowed to happen is figured out and fixed if necessary.

P.S. I’m still not sure I believe in PMs in the fediverse. If I need to share something and care about keeping it private, I’d rather move the conversation elsewhere.

That’s a weird way to look at the projects, in my opinion (“if only X had Y, it would kill Z…”).

Helix and Neovim have different approaches to editing, configuration, etc. They don’t need to be competing for users. Neovim can exist for the people who want an editor with Neovim’s ideas, same for Helix, and that’s just fine.

Had a sound issue: output device options only listed “Dummy Output” and nothing was listed for input devices. I eventually got my headset to be recognized again, but sadly couldn’t tell you what did it, since I tried so many things and I lack proper understanding of the Linux sound scene.

Just in case it’s useful to someone, here’s a collection of ideas I found while working through the issue:

• Make sure wireplumber service is enabled and running OK
• Plug in an HDMI device and reboot (some people said this permanently fixed a similar issue)
• Backup, then delete $XDG_STATE_HOME/wireplumber and reboot
• Check if you have installed the packages:
  • kernel-modules
  • alsa-sof-firmware

Note, however, that I really don’t understand what some of these do. You should be very wary of taking suggestions from people who don’t know what they’re talking about… unless you’re desperate enough and want your sound back, perhaps.

…Also, here’s a gentle reminder to test your sound device with other equipment and try different ports/adapters, if available. Wasn’t my case, but sometimes stuff simply breaks at inopportune times.

Generally, I agree, but there’s some nuance.

Discussions are better when those who intend to participate read the content first. Realistically, though, we know many read the headline and jump straight into comments. I think that’s a culture issue, and that’s difficult to fix.

The bot can alleviate its impact by giving these people more context. Without changing culture, however, removing the bot from these discussions could ironically make them worse. At least, that’s how I see it.

I don’t really like it, but I believe it helps.

What actually confused me, though, is that if you lump in some privacy/accessibility/convenience concerns, I could kinda see the point of a “Saved 0%” tldr.

But, on a phoronix article? They’re one of the few tech journalism websites I still trust and am grateful for, that I turn uBlock off for. It’s like I’m missing some context, I need more info.

That might be overly optimistic? Someone please correct me if I’m wrong, here.

From my understanding, the main drive behind adding AP federation is to allow users of separate code forges to collaborate on each other’s projects, much like how users of lemmy can interact with communities of other lemmy instances. This is big because it could break the “but everyone is on GitHub” problem.

Currently, it’s difficult to justify completely leaving GH, since those that do leave behind countless users and developers who won’t follow them and create yet-another-account on one-more-website. Federated code forges have the potential to bring easier decentralization to an ironically centralized land.

Keyword here being easier. Because even though Git is already decentralized by design and some think git-send-email is plenty for collaboration (e.g. many Linux maintainers, sourcehut users), it turns out way more people prefer doing their work in pretty web UIs.

But just like lemmy and mastodon aren’t great at showing their users content from the other platform because it’s not a priority, I don’t see why forgejo would prioritize letting lemmy users interact with projects.

Yeah, that’s funny.

I considered opening an issue, having assumed that this was a bug and in such cases the bot might as well not comment at all, but apparently part of its intended purpose is saving people from having to open articles.

Not sure how I feel about that, to be honest.

Php also graced us with Unexpected T_PAAMAYIM_NEKUDOTAYIM

My bad, I forgot you need to be careful using such metaphors when talking about software. It’s as the other commenter said: a rebrand, but they might keep the old identity around for people who like it.

What apps you install depends on your needs and preferences. It might help others if you include those in any future requests for suggestions.

I suggest not worrying too much about “removing your dependence on closed ecosystems” immediately. Just do as you did before, changing apps as you find better alternatives—only, this time, considering the advantages of FOSS. Simply by giving F-droid apps a chance before opening (I assume) the Play Store, you’re already doing better than the vast majority of people.

Regarding discoverability and security, I believe participation in the community helps:

• The Venn diagram of “FOSS app users” and “software enthusiasts” is closer to a circle. People like talking about useful, good software they like. Word of mouth recommendations is how I got into this stuff.
• You’ll be more likely to hear urgent actionable news (e.g. X app developer sold to bad company, here’s the fork that will carry the torch onwards).

And so that this comment isn’t completely useless… Mozilla are currently working on a mobile version of Thunderbird for Android, built on top of K9 mail. Been using the beta and liking it so far. If you want a FOSS e-mail app, keep an eye on that one.

P.S. I much prefer the dark side, and don’t forget the cookies!